BRIEFLY

The Farm Credit System posted a 1st-quarter loss.

The nation's biggest agricultural lender said it lost $155 million in the quarter, down from a $205-million loss a year earlier, but bringing the agency closer to insolvency. As a result, the system will ask for financial help at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing today, said Fred Havell, a spokesman for Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corp., the fiscal agency for the Farm Credit System.